Gilles, Knights snag SIAC title with win over Memorial

Three plays was all it took for Castle High School against Memorial to show who would own the night, the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference and a second straight undefeated regular season.

The Knights (9-0) used the momentum set in motion by senior quarterback Mitch Gilles and the three-play, 74-yard scoring drive to open the game to unleash a 56-17 football win over the Tigers on Friday night at Enlow Field.

Gilles hit Cameron Parus for 48 yards on the first play of the game, Joe Redburn for 11 yards on the second and Parus again for a 15-yard scoring pass.

Not even an interception on an overthrow on Castle's next series — Gilles' only off-target toss in his only half of action — could slow the Knights.

That's because Gilles came back to finish his first half with 17-for-21 passing for 345 yards and five touchdowns, two to Parus and three to Jon-Marc Anderson.

"We were just doing what we do," said Gilles. "We didn't try to get too fancy. We were just worrying about what we do and trying to get better.

"Those first few plays were scripted. Then, when we see what worked on that first drive, we just base the rest of the game plan on that."

Castle coach Doug Hurt said the fast start was exactly what the Knights were looking for.

"We wanted to get up early, set the tone, and we did," he said after his team won back-to-back outright SIAC titles for the first time since the 1982-83 seasons. "We thought we had a pretty good idea about what we wanted to do and we looked crisp. We just want to get better."

After Memorial (2-7) went three-and-out following the interception by sophomore Isaac Hoffman, Castle went on a 96-yard scoring march that ended with a 70-yard bomb from Gilles to Anderson.

"That's usually a set play," said Anderson. "We just try and get the ball out quick and the line did a good job giving us time. Basically, we were just executing what we work on in practice and it worked."

Anderson added touchdown receptions of 28 and 11 yards and finished the first half and the game with seven catches for 186 yards. Parus had eight catches for 137 yards in equal minutes.

"We feel like they're the best two receivers around," said Gilles. "Having one on each side is hard to stop, and it hasn't been done yet."

Said Anderson: "I believe that was as efficient a half passing the ball as we've had this year. There's still things we can do to get better, though."

Memorial had little besides a couple of nice McKinley Warren kickoff returns to cheer until the second half when Castle went to the bench following a blocked punt and end zone recovery for a touchdown by Braden Sims.

Then the Tigers got a pair of 2-yard scoring runs from Dane Hurley and Warren.